is a Japanese film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

, screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 and editor

Film editing

Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...

. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.

Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University

Waseda University

, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...

 instead worked as an assistant director

Assistant director

The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...

 on documentaries for TV Man Union. He sneaked off on his own to direct his first television documentary, Lessons from a Calf (1991).

He has produced films for directors Miwa Nishikawa

Miwa Nishikawa

is a Japanese director.Hirokazu Koreeda produced her feature film Wild Berries after she worked as an assistant director on his Distance...

 and Yusuke Iseya

Yusuke Iseya

is a Japanese actor.He was born in Tokyo, Japan. With his modeling career , Yūsuke is known for Loreal , Men's Nonno magazine, Prada , and Asahi Aqua Blue....

.

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1991	Lessons from a Calf	Director (documentary)
1991	However...	Director (documentary)
1994	August without Him	Director (documentary)
1995	Maborosi Maborosi Maborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari is a 1995 Japanese film by director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano and Takashi Naitō...	Director
1996	Without Memory	Director (documentary)
1998	After Life	Director, writer, editor
2001	Distance Distance (film) Distance is a 2001 film by Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, starring Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Iseya Yusuke, Terajima Susumu, and Natsukawa Yui.-Plot:...
2004	Nobody Knows	Director, producer, writer
2006	Hana Hana (film) Hana - the Tale of a Reluctant Samurai, known in Japan as , is a 2006 Japanese black comedy by director Hirokazu Koreeda.-Story:The story takes place in the year 1702. It concerns a young samurai, Sozaemon, who has come from Matsumoto to Edo to take his revenge against his father's killer and...	Director, writer
2008	Still Walking Still Walking (2008 film) is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The film is a portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of one member.-Plot:...	Director, writer, editor
	Daijōbu dearu yō ni: Cocco owaranai tabi	Director
2009	Air Doll Air Doll is a 2009 Japanese drama film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. It is based on the manga series Kuuki Ningyo by Yoshiie Gōda, which was serialized in the seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original, and is about an inflatable doll that develops a consciousness and falls in love. The movie debuted in the...	Director, producer, writer, editor
2011	I Wish I Wish (film) is a 2011 Japanese film written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. This film stars real-life brothers Koki Maeda and Oshiro Maeda, along with veteran actress Kirin Kiki and actor Joe Odagiri...	Director

Awards

• Golden Osella, Best Director (tied), 1995 Venice Film Festival
  Venice Film Festival
  The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
  
  
• Blue Ribbon Award, Best Director, for Dare mo shiranai (2004) Blue Ribbon Awards
  Blue Ribbon Awards
  The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
  
  
• Blue Ribbon Award, Best Film, for Dare mo shiranai (2004) Blue Ribbon Awards
  Blue Ribbon Awards
  The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
  
  
• Best Film, for Wandafuru raifu (1998) Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
• Best Screenplay, for Wandafuru raifu (1998) Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema

Further reading

• "After Life" (Review) by Jonathan Ellis. Film Quarterly, Vol. no. 57, Issue no. 1, pp. 32-37. ISSN 0015-1386.
• "This is your life: Tony Rayns
  Tony Rayns
  Antony Rayns is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. Much inspired in his youth by the films of Kenneth Anger, he wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin from the December 1970 issue until its demise...
  
   interviews After Life's director Koreeda Hirokazu" Sight & Sound, March 1999.

External links

• Interview with Hirokazu Koreeda, MUBI
• Official website (in Japanese)
• Overview of Hirokazu Koreeda's Films (ThoughtCatalog.com)
• Interview with Koreeda Hirokazu - Documentary Box (Interviewer: Aaron Gerow)
• The Films of Hirokazu Koreeda - Harvard Film Archive